Written question WQ85937

On 15 February I announced a package of measures to help tackle the cost-of-living crisis. This included provision of £152m for a £150 payment for all households living in properties in council tax bands A to D and for all households who receive support through our Council Tax Reduction Scheme.

Based on these criteria, we estimated that over 70% of Welsh households be eligible for a payment.

Following on from the announcement, officials worked closely with local government representatives to develop the arrangements for delivering the scheme. As is common with schemes of this nature, a qualifying date was required to enable local authorities to baseline their data and start planning for effective delivery. The announcement date was therefore selected as the qualifying date. I would like to add that, as of 22 August, over 90% of eligible households have received their payment and that local authorities are continuing to make payments under the scheme.

It was recognised that there would be some households who moved home after 15 February and might not therefore satisfy the criteria to be eligible for payment at their new address. However, some of these households would be eligible for support based on their previous address if they were in occupation on 15 February and their property met the other qualifying criteria.

Where households have moved after the qualifying date, this necessarily involves authorities carrying out additional validation checks, for example to ensure a household has not already received a payment in relation to their previous address.

We do not have estimates of how many households whose eligibility for a payment might be affected because they moved after the qualifying date.

However, we have also made £25m available to local authorities to design and deliver a Discretionary Cost-of-Living Support Scheme. Individual authorities are able to target this additional funding as they see fit to help households struggling with the cost of living. Authorities may choose to use these funds to support households who moved into Wales after 15 February if they wish to do so.